39 comments:

I'm openly wondering if Scott Machado should be given a chance to be Lin's backup. Machado is producing a heck of a lot more than the lottery picks I blasted for the Hornets and Suns in Austin Rivers and Kendall Marshall. Machado might be the Jeremy Lin of the 2012 draft, though I don't think he has starting caliber NBA physicality.

Royce White and Terrence Jones are looking good. Jeremy Lamb is looking REALLY GOOD with his 20 ppg on 50+% shooting (!!!)

I hope that the Rockets don't do the "Knicks" and sign a bunch of disgruntled veterans like Aaron Brooks who pouted his way out of Houston. Let the youngsters earn their chances with their play.

Yup very exciting youngsters and what even greater is that Jeremy is going to be the leader of the team as D.Morey and McHale said. I won't rule them off from making the playoffs, probably 7-8 spot at best. But i do think they still need a vet to control the locker room, someone with no ego and respect Jeremy like Jeffries or Battier personality. Too bad G.Hill have signed with Clippers. I don't know much about Kevin Martin games and personality, do u think they will mesh well?

The Rockets have two veterans to control the locker room: Jeremy Lin and Coach Kevin McHale.

Lin is a third year player with a huge contract. He also will lead the team in his characteristic way. Everybody will be included under Lin's watch.

Jared Jeffries would be an excellent pickup. Other than Andrew Bynum, I can't think of any big men that want to join the Rockets.

If my guy Omar Samhan didn't tear his ACL, I'd get him back in training camp. Samhan was the best college big man in 2010 (better than DeMarcus Cousins who Samhan trounced in summer league worse than Lin trounced John Wall) and is better than Anthony Davis in 2012.

Kevin Martin is a proven veteran, good rebounder/defender/hustle player ... not much of a scorer at power forward. Rockets need a guy like that to control the paint and bring toughness to a young team.

That's because real analysts use evidence and logic. And it is possible for a real analyst to look at the evidence, use logic, and conclude in their opinion that Lin was not worth the Knicks to match. And that's okay.

But a lot of the talking heads who call themselves analysts are actually not. Guys like SAS are not analysts, they're just opinionists. They're bottom feeders whose only purpose to generate controversy for viewership. And it works.

Two things that stood out from the podcast:1. The announcers agreed it is foolish for the Knicks to let go an asset for nothing so they suspected Dolan and Carmelo wanted Jeremy out from NY.2. All this brouhaha over Jeremy getting $15 on the 3rd year has something to do with Jeremy's race being Asian-American. And many people are not ready to accept that Asian-American can be an NBA star. Many African-Americans received questionable bigger contract without any controversy.

The funny thing is the Asian-American stereotype exists even in the Asian-American community. My cousin made a comment that it's hard for Jeremy to last long in the NBA because Asian bones and muscles are not as strong as African-American's and Caucasian's. Like Jeremy said, he has to prove it over and over again. May God bless Jeremy to break stereotypes!

Stereotypes exist within all races. For example, in the Afro-American community, there may exist the similar stereotype that Afro-Americans cannot excel in swimming or classical musical instruments, who knows?

Jeremy Lin is the man, but I wouldn't have resigned him for that amount of money. Why? Because he's only played in 26 games as a starter and that doesn't really say much about a 82 game season excluding playoffs. 26 games guys...come on... Just because he's Asian we're hyping him up to be the 2nd coming of Michael Jordan here... We have to be more practical and not go nuts just because he's an Asian American. Chris Paul is a dumbass for saying the 92 Olympics is the reason why Jeremy Lin was selected for the USA select team. That's just ignorance right there.

While I agree that Lin is extremely hyped given his 26 games as a starter, it's no different than all the other young athletes who are hyped up by the media. Lebron James was already being compared to a Michael Jordan/Magic Johnson his junior year in high school. Each year, the top NBA picks, most of whom have only had 1 year of college experience are compared to all-stars and given 4-yr $30M contracts.

Why is Lin being judged on a different standard? He's shown the potential to be a $8M/yr player.

I think it's funny how Anthony Davis, after playing only 40 college games as a freshman, isn't having his talent questioned. JLin has 35 NBA games under his belt, and people still aren't sure of him? Maybe he shouldn't be anointed as a HOFer yet, but he should be respected as someone who deserves to start and will be an above-average performer.

All I'm saying is that I'm proud of him as an Asian American, but as a fellow basketball lover and from my personal basketball POV, I can understand why the Knicks didn't extend his contract. 26 games in the NBA isn't barely a quarter of an NBA season and he was averaging a TON of turnovers during that period of strong play. At the same time, I know the NBA is a business and Lin had to get his own, above all else, so he chose to sign with the Rockets. Lin is an inspiration to all of us, but that doesn't necessarily mean I have to blindly follow him and mask the reality that he hasn't really done much in the league yet! He played very well and lead a KNICKS winning streak, consequently the Rockets rewarded him for that feat, but I don't disagree w/ the KNICKS not matching the contract. They have plenty of decent players on the squad and could be contenders next season. Again...only 26 games and he averaged 4 TOs a game...

For what it's worth, I understand what you are saying and have absolutely no problem. I actually tend to think that this decision to let JLin go makes basketball sense for Knicks because they wanted to play Melo ball. As to 4 turn-overs, many of those were decent passes not properly handled by other receiving Knicks players, but no question TOs is one area he has to improve. I don't think anyone is arguing that JLin is already at Chris Paul level, although in my opinion, Chris Paul has some weak areas. So does D Rose, as well as Rondo.

@:) From my POV, you can't judge basketball talent when it is in your face. Lin has excelled on many levels. He has done things that no one has ever done. Take a fella like Anthony Davis...he has yet to play one game of NBA ball. He is the number one pick. Lin was undrafted.

No one needs to tell you that again. Plain and simple, the Knicks made a horrible decision. If you need to wait to eat your own crow, just wait for this season to start.

"I actually tend to think that this decision to let JLin go makes basketball sense for Knicks because they wanted to play Melo ball."

I disagree. I believe Lin would have done well playing "Melo ball" and, more, the Knicks offense would have been a hybrid offense more diverse than people think. That's the direction Woodson was going last season. Anthony would have been the top beneficiary as a finisher, but Lin would have been the lynchpin of the offense's diversity.

The Knicks will definitely be hurt by missing Lin. Lin will be hurt, too. He'll be successful running the pick-and-roll with the Rockets, no doubt, but Lin would expanded his game and been used in a larger variety of ways with the Knicks.

:), the 3/25 contract is very different for the Rockets than it is for the Knicks.

For the Rockets, it only counts the mean or 8.3 per on the salary cap, which falls in the going rate for average-to-above average NBA PGs. No luxury tax hit for the Rockets, either. That's a fair price for Lin.

For the Knicks, 5 per is a very fair price for Lin over the 1st 2 years. 5 per is a little higher than the going rate for #1 over-all draft picks. Lin is like a #1 over-all draft pick: 'can't miss' talent and upside, with some legitimate doubts and concerns (eg, small sample size, injury).

The controversy for the Knicks is contained to year 3: 2014-15. The difference between the 1st offer and 2nd offer in year 3 is about 20 million (salary + luxury tax). If Lin had been a #1 over-all draft pick in 2010 like he should have been (Now starting for the Washington Wizards!), and his team then picked up both team options, entering 2014-15 would be Lin's unrestricted free agent year. As a 4 year veteran entering 2014-15, Lin could very well be all-star caliber and worth every bit of 15 mil. Or not.

Referring back to 8.3 as a good market value for average-to-above-average PGs, I think Lin would have been underpaid with 5/5 in his 1st 2 seasons.

I rate Lin as an above-average PG right now (floor) with the real potential to develop into Steve Nash 2.0 (ceiling). Why an above-average PG? While Lin struggled against the top teams and PGs last season, he consistently played well against - often outplayed - average PGs and teams during and after Linsanity, including low-to-mid-level play-off teams.

For the Knicks win-now team, assuming Lin won't improve (highly unlikely), how much will an above-average PG with clutch ability be worth? I believe the Knicks will miss Lin more than they realize now.

I'm posting for the first time, but have been lurking for awhile. I really appreciate the intelligent and insightful discussions here.

I am wondering if anyone has read any trustworthy accounts of whether Jeremy or the Rockets initiated the development of the second contract? I thought I read somewhere online that the Rockets were the ones who came up with it, but there have also been some mentions that Jeremy went to the Rockets to get it. Ultimately, it's not like it really matters, because anyone who has ever had a job has negotiated for a better salary. It's hilarious how people are acting like Jeremy was being sneaky, when he just did what anybody, and they too, would do.

Rocketeer, I believe there are Morey quotes saying he initiated the 2nd offer, but I don't have a link for it.

I recommend contacting Seth Rosenthal, editor at Knicks blog postingandtoasting.com, who last night commented in http://www.postingandtoasting.com/2012/7/18/3167762/jeremy-lin-speaks#comments that his sources on the Knicks told him the Rockets initiated the 2nd offer.

There's a lot of misconceptions about Lin's free agency process. The fact is, Lin didn't have anything to do with restructuring the second contract. It's simple, the Rockets really wanted Lin and they felt that their best chance of getting him would be to restructure the deal, since it was widely made public by Knicks management that they would match anything up to "$1 billion". Knicks did this to bully other teams into not even trying to get Lin, but it backfired. Here's a great article that may clear up the misconceptions: http://jeremylintelligence.wordpress.com/2012/07/19/excellent-article-clearing-up-misconceptions-about-lins-free-agency-process/

It has been interesting to compare the reactions on PostingandToasting to the other sports sites out there. The reaction on P&T has been pro-Lin for the most part, since the alot of the posters seem like die-hard fans who know the team, and have closely watched Jeremy. Of course, the posts on the other sites, like CBSSportswatch, have the usual vitriol that comes from mindless sheep who swallow and regurgitate SAS propaganda blindly.

For intelligent on-line Knicks discussion, go to knickerblogger.net and P&T. Heavy, heavy Lin talk and debate the last few weeks, especially the last few days, by intelligent, sophisticated, deep feeling NBA fans.

If Rockets fans go to their sites and ask 'what are we getting with Lin?', you'll get an outpouring of grade-A responses. Knicks fans - at least fans on those 2 sites - really loved this kid and wanted to cheer him on for years.

A job well done by JLIN in the press conference. Very well spoken and humble. I'm sure the Houston fans hearing what he had to say about the organization and the team will be excited to see what he can do for the team to get better.